Men's World Championship 2018

Going back to the WCH (final) series one last time, I am truly impressed with what Poland and Brazil have achieved over the years. But let's not forget to mention Serbia's WCH consistency, too. Let me finish with some numbers.

3rd WCH final for Poland in 4 editions.

Brazil have appeared in 5 consecutive finals!

Brazil have reached the semifinals 9 times in the last 10 editions!

Serbia have reached the semifinals 5 times in the last 6 editions.

Well, some teams just deserve to be there more than others, don't they?

IMHO USA Team is stronger than Poland, but Poland has Kubiak and that's the main reason why they beat us and crashed Brazil in the final.

Anderson is probably one of the more gifted players in the world in terms of pure technical skills, but he has not a leader's behavior.

Kubiak, that's Poland best player technically talking, looks always in control mentally talking: he screams, he celebrates, he does it all, but in the end you realize he led the team to the victory somehow.

I predicted Anderson would choke in the tie-break and there we were: 0% spiking from the most experienced player of the team. He can't play opposite if can't stay confident the very same moment his team is in troubles. Patch, Russell, Sander and so on may be less effective, but if they make a mistake, they're all able to move on and find their best level anytime, Anderson isn't. And being the third choice of the setters of Zenit-Kazan for years didn't help him at all. He's even worse in the club.

Anderson killed the team's confidence in the fouth set, missing every possibile ball in the second half of that game. He even wasted the -1 point with a net violation after a massive digg by one of his teammates. In the tie-break he basically gave the victory to Poland being death on his feet.

On the other hand Kurek had the tournament of his life, but he's not that player. He still comes from another epic fail in Ziraat Bankasi, just like with Dinamo Moscow, Lube and Asseco Resovia. Same goes for Anderson: he's not the machine we saw in the first matches, he's a choker when it matters.

In the end, everything worked for Poland, kept together by Kubiak's fighting spirit; while everything didn't work for the USA, killed by Anderson's lack of bravery, as usual, which destroyed every possibile confidence the guys had that far.

Anderson killed the team's confidence in the fouth set, missing every possibile ball in the second half of that game. He even wasted the -1 point with a net violation after a massive digg by one of his teammates. In the tie-break he basically gave the victory to Poland being death on his feet.

On the other hand Kurek had the tournament of his life, but he's not that player. He still comes from another epic fail in Ziraat Bankasi, just like with Dinamo Moscow, Lube and Asseco Resovia. Same goes for Anderson: he's not the machine we saw in the first matches, he's a choker when it matters.

In the end, everything worked for Poland, kept together by Kubiak's fighting spirit; while everything didn't work for the USA, killed by Anderson's lack of bravery, as usual, which destroyed every possibile confidence the guys had that far.

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Yeah USA has the most talent in the starting lineup for sure. Their lack of depth hurt them though. They were exhausted (especially Anderson) by the end of the tournament and Poland was peaking at the exact right time. Play that final 4 over again and I think USA wins 7/10 times. But Kurek and Kubiak were just sensational and Poland got contributions from almost all their players at some point.

And who told otherwise? I'm just being critic on my team, expecially on its supposed world class spiker. It's the same old story every major tournament. I don't even consider useless commercial World Cup or VNL/WL.

Yeah USA has the most talent in the starting lineup for sure. Their lack of depth hurt them though. They were exhausted (especially Anderson) by the end of the tournament and Poland was peaking at the exact right time. Play that final 4 over again and I think USA wins 7/10 times. But Kurek and Kubiak were just sensational and Poland got contributions from almost all their players at some point.

USA have more talent? I have to disagree

I don't know about you but Poland's starters especially the middle blockers are individually more talented than USA but as a group was never as emotionally stronger than a physically weaker team such as Italy until Heynen came along, did his voodoo and completely changed their mindset.

Maybe the word you're looking for is more acclaimed which I can agree on.

And who told otherwise? I'm just being critic on my team, expecially on its supposed world class spiker. It's the same old story every major tournament. I don't even consider useless commercial World Cup or VNL/WL.